Page 64 - A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law：An Intermediary-oriented Approach

A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law: Chapter 3 Copyright Rules for Online Intermediaries: From Safe Harbour to a New Intermediary Liability Scheme
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

to develop new distribution technology through a series of non-proprietary regimes such as
compulsory licensing and levies. In this way, the intermediary-oriented approach enabled
end users who have no capacity to present at the negotiation table to access and use a diverse
range of copyrighted works through the latest technology at an affordable price.
However, as the next chapter discusses, the intermediary-oriented tradition failed to
work for certain online intermediaries in the early Internet age. Unlike the copyright law in
the industrial age, which focused on intermediaries, the Internet copyright law in the era of
Web 1.0 directly targeted the end users. Imposing stringent copyright liability on individual
users substantially defeated mass creativity empowered by advances in technology and the
decentralisation of the ability to use copyrighted works, and thereby prejudicing the purpose
of copyright law. Due to the flood of UGC creation and the re-intermediation of UGC
platforms, it is time to apply the intermediary-oriented approach to the context of UGC to
encourage users’ creativity and fulfil the purpose of copyright law.

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